"Jews lived on Hungarian soil for a thousand years," says
Mrs. C. Bronstein, who was born in the town of Szentes in
southeast Hungary. "They contributed to the Jewish world some
of the leading gedolim and tzaddikim of the
generations whose names strike a chord in the heart of every
Jew to this day. Everywhere they ventured they developed
commerce and industry, bringing prosperity and jobs for local
residents."

A school principal and an outstanding educator, Mrs.
Bronstein describes herself as one of the surviving remnants.
She has published several books on the Holocaust and
Hungarian Jewry including Ke'aleh Nidaf, Acharei Hara'ash,
Masa El Ha'avar, Al Eileh Ani Bochiyoh and Shever
Bas Ami.

Every erev Shavuos, Am Yisroel completes Sefiras
HaOmer, "yet there is another count that will go on until
Techias Hameisim," she writes. "This is the count of
the firebrands plucked from the fire among the Jews of
Hungary. From Pesach until the end of Sivan 5704 (1944) their
world came crashing down. During this bitter and harried
period their families were taken away for extermination at
Auschwitz and only a handful remained alive. Those who
remained were chosen by Providence to survive in order to
keep the embers glowing and to perpetuate the generational
chain of Torah scholars and mitzvah observers.

"Today the wounds are again being opened before they have
healed over--and they will never heal over. Salty tears blind
the eyes when memories surface from the cobwebs of the past.
The private pain over the loss of families mixes with the
collective pain over the Torah world that was annihilated and
is no more."

Mrs. Bronstein will never forget that day at the end of Adar,
5744 (1944). Her father, HaRav Akiva Koppel Yaakov Herman
zt"l Hy"d came back from his store in Budapest in the
middle of the week. "He came to Szentes all white, afraid and
flustered. I never saw my father like that. He said, `The
Germans took over the capital. No one can go in or out of
Budapest. . . . They are arresting anyone who looks
Jewish.'

"To my mother he added in a low voice that we nonetheless
overheard, `The Budapest askonim sold the Jews in the
small towns. They hid the bitter truth from us.'

"Father sat down and sank into learning. It was not long.
Maybe an hour, maybe less. Powerful knocks on the door. My
older sister rushed to open the door. . . . In the doorway
stood Hungarian police officers with their feathered caps.
`In the name of the law we have come to arrest the head of
the family,' they said in a metallic voice. They rushed him.
`Hurry up. We have no time.'

" . . . maybe a dozen more men, pure-hearted and honest, were
taken along with him. They were the last of the men in the
community . . .

"After that we were also taken to Gehennom on the Earth. We
lost my mother and younger brother . . . when we came back
after a year, my sister and I -- skeletons, embers saved from
the Nazi inferno -- they told us of our father's suffering in
Auschwitz and Flussenberg. `Your father was a great
tzaddik. He bought a pair of tefillin with a
portion of bread and rose to the Heavens wearing them.' "
Mrs. Bronstein lists Hungarian Jewry's spiritual dowry before
the First World War: 200 yeshivas with 11,000
talmidim(!), hundreds of shtetls and dozens of towns
with 725,000 Jews -- until the 24th of Adar 5704 (1944) when
Adolph Eichmann, may his name be blotted out, crossed the
border with his company of storm troopers. The serene life of
Hungary's Jews, many of whom kept halochoh down to the last
detail, would never be the same again.

The question of who were the "Hungarian Jews"is determined
according to geographical lines that really extend slightly
beyond the borders of Hungary. There were Jews who couldn't
speak a word of Hungarian but were still considered Hungarian
Jews. The survivors we spoke with stress that the concept of
Hungarian Jewry was determined by the Austro-Hungarian Empire
that ruled from Czechoslovakia to Yugoslavia and Transylvania
(part of Romania).

Hungarian Jewry consists of two groups: the Jews of the North
and West of Hungary in the Oberland region were under the
influence of German kehillos and were non-Chassidic,
classic Ashkenaz communities, based on the way of life and
the customs they adopted, while the Jews of the Unterland who
lived in the eastern part of Hungary were under Chassidic
influence along with the Jews further to the east in
Carpathia.

"In these places," explains HaRav Shmuel Avishai
Shtockhammer, chairman of the Mash'abim literary center and
secretary of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel, "one
can find the naissance of many different groups of Chassidus
such as Vishnitz."

The town of Vishnitz was in Bukovina. After World War I the
court of Ohev Yisroel, the father of the Imrei Chaim and the
grandfather of the current Admor, fled to the town of
Grosswardein on the Romanian-Hungarian border.

Other Chassidic courts from Hungary include Satmar, Sighet,
Munkacz, Spinka, Nadvorna, Kaleb, Stropkov, the Admorim of
Kretchnef (today in Rechovot, Kiryat Gat and Jerusalem),
HaRav Pollak (later the Admor of Petach Tikva), Ungvar and
Erlau. (Ungvar and Erlau were not really Chassidic, says
HaRav Shtockhammer.) HaRav Dushinsky was also originally from
Hungary (Oberland) along with HaRav Aharon Roth, the author
of Shomer Emunim, who engendered Chassidic outgrowths
such as Bergszas and Toldos Aharon. Tzanz came from the city
of Klausenberg and Papa, Galante, Skulheed and Shomrei
Hachomos were all from Hungary.

The Jews of both Oberland and Unterland had many yeshivas and
Torah life flourished. Major rabbinical figures like the
Chasam Sofer and HaRav Menachem Mendel of Rimnov played a
prominent role in the life of Hungarian Jews. The Chasam
Sofer, who went to Bratislava (Pressburg), laid the path for
Hungarian Jewry and many Jews of Hungarian background are
part of the communities he established.

Following the French Revolution the winds of the German
Enlightenment blew as far as Hungary, but the Chasam Sofer is
especially known for his strong stand against the storm,
strengthening religious life throughout Hungary and keeping
Hungary's Jews strong in emunoh and mitzvah
observance.

Earlier, the Maharal of Prague (in nearby Czechoslovakia),
the Noda BeYehuda, HaRav Yehuda Assad and others left their
imprint on Hungarian Jewry.

In an article as short as this one we cannot even list all
the living Jewish communities in the area before the
Holocaust. The above is just a sample.

Had the pleading by HaRav Weissmandel, the rov of Bratislava,
been heeded and the train tracks to Auschwitz bombed by the
Allies, Hungarian Jewry may not have been destroyed . . . But
who can know cheshbonos Shomayim, who can know
Hashem's secrets?

Nevertheless, not all hope was lost. "The sound of Torah did
not cease entirely, but was hushed and became subdued," wrote
the late Rav Nosson Karpel Neugershal, a talmid at the
Slovakian-Hungarian Yeshivas Shuran, a few years after moving
to Eretz Yisroel. "I believe this same flame of Torah now
flickering among the embers is still destined to burn bright
and to start a large and strong fire whose light will break
through the darkness of the Diaspora . . . These precious
bochurim dispersed by the wicked authorities and taken
off for forced labor in various places will rise up and
gather around their esteemed rabbonim and will take their
places in the botei medrash and will resume their
studies with the same fervor as before."

Jewish Purity

According to Mrs. Bronstein the spiritual treasures once held
in Hungary are beyond counting. "We have a feeling that a
redeemer has yet to rise up and reestablish Hungarian Jewry
in all its past splendor. Normal eyes are unable to sob over
the terrible loss, but rather a special source of tears is
needed to mourn the world that was destroyed, the great
leaders of the nation, the tinokos shel beis rabbon,
the pious women, the talmidei chachomim fathers, the
precious bochurim learning in the botei
medrash, as well as the honesty, the chessed, the
pure emunoh in Borei Olom, the uncompromising
education in Torah and mitzvas. And this is what
characterized Hungarian Jewry most of all: honesty and
mitzvah observance without compromise."

In his book Igro Depirko HaRav Tzvi Elimelech Shapira
of Dinov, a talmid of HaRav Menachem Mendel of Rimnov,
compiled responsa from his rebbe. In one of the
questions HaRav Menachem Mendel is asked why it is that there
are Jews who send their sons to cheder and to
shul and teach them to say, "Omen, yehei Shmei
Rabboh," as all kosher Jews do, yet in the end the child
does not blossom into a kosher Jew. His answer: because the
child was raised with non-kosher money.

The motto of Hungarian Jewry was just the opposite: kashrus
and honesty in ruchniyus and in gashmiyus. The
clerk and the teacher must come to work on time and the
merchant must conduct business dealings with honesty and
integrity.

Therefore, before the Holocaust, they merited numerous
offspring blessed by Hashem. They used their time wisely and
lived sparingly in modest homes with simple clothes, but
demanded the very best in spiritual matters and Torah growth,
in mitzvah observance, in discrete tzedokoh and
chessed, and such matters. They avoided bitul
Torah scrupulously and showed meticulousness and
dedication in every job and undertaking. Glorious botei
knesses, holy yeshivas and talmudei Torah were
supported by the community. To these sacred objectives the
Jews gave generously, even if it meant less food on the
table.

In Munkacz Mrs. Beinhorn recalls how on Fridays the streets
would fill with men rushing to the mikveh who, after
the tevilloh, would take care not do melochos
but would spend their time studying parshas hashovua
or reciting Shir Hashirim.

"Then everyone would head off to his own kloiz. The
Vishnitz kloiz was on Koshot Street, the beis
medrash for Ziditshov Chassidim was on Shogar Street; the
Belzer shtiebel was on Kartolia Street along with the
Spinka kloiz and others. With more than half of the
population of the city Jewish there were organized communal
institutions such as Bikur Cholim, Chevra Mishnayos, Tzedokoh
Vechessed, Linas Chessed, a public kitchen for the needy, and
various women's organizations operating in cooperation and
harmony.

"We didn't study at Bais Yaakov because there was no school,"
she reminisces, "but the house itself was a living classroom
for mussar and halochoh. Every mother was a
private teacher for her daughters, guiding them in the
halochos of the home and kashrus, and was even a
workshop for home hechsherim that were passed on from
mother to daughter. Mother would teach us how to embroider
for our trousseau with our initials as well as knitting and
craftwork, cooking and baking, and everything we needed to
know as Jewish wives. I loved to read during my childhood,
but I was also taught that the work learned in the home is of
the utmost importance."

The Yeshivas of Hungary

"The Jews of Hungary are characterized by Jewish purity,"
says HaRav Shtockhammer. "These are Jews who took at their
motto the verse: `Tomim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokecho, to
fulfill Torah and mitzvas with temimus without
inquiring and demanding explanations. They had Jewish warmth
in avodas Hashem and in every aspect of their lives.
The askonim who later arrived in Eretz Yisroel also
stood out for their purity, honesty and integrity."

All of them remember the early days of Jerusalem's chareidi
neighborhood Kiryat Mattersdorf, first of the outlying
neighborhoods, which was founded by HaRav Simchah Bunim
Klein, the son of HaRav Ephroim Fishel Klein. Mattersdorf in
Yerushalayim and its neighbor Unsdorf were named after two of
the "Seven Sisters" kehillos in Hungary, technically
Burgenland, Austria. The Hungarians who founded these
communities were widely known for their honesty and
integrity.

In Eretz Yisroel, in addition to the Admorim, survivors
included HaRav Dovid Sperber, gavad of Rashov and one
of the leading gedolei Torah there (one of the
Afarchasto De'aniyo), and his son-in-law HaRav
Yehoshua Deutsch, now of Katamon. HaRav Akiva Sofer, author
of Daas Sofer and the great-grandson of the Chasam
Sofer, served as the rov of Pressburg before the Holocaust
and was saved during the early years of the war. A member of
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah before the Holocaust, he went on to
set up Yeshivas Pressburg in Jerusalem. HaRav Yosef Adler,
known as the Gaon of Torda and also a member of the Moetzes
Gedolei Hatorah, also came to Eretz Yisroel from Hungary.

"Ovi Mori HaRav Nosson Karpel Neugershal,
zt"l," recounts Rav Mordechai Neugershal, "was a
talmid of Yeshivas Shuran and remained one all his
life. Many years after his petiroh in 5736 (1976),
among the writings he left behind, I found three aged
notebooks containing a heartwarming description of the
yeshiva and life there, along with an article on its function
and purpose, all penned with grace and talent. They were
written a few years after his arrival in Eretz Yisroel, and
the fluidity of the language and the clarity of his writing
style are amazing, considering it was such a short time after
he began to learn Hebrew."

Shuran is located 50 miles northeast of Bratislava, which
itself lies at the confluence of Austria, Hungary and
Slovakia. A distinguished yeshiva with 200 bochurim,
it was considered the second largest in Hungary after
Yeshivas Pressburg. Although based on the Lithuanian model,
in many ways its approach was unique to the Hungarian
yeshivas of the era.

The rosh yeshiva, HaRav Shlomo Meir Halevy Frei, the son of
the Kesav Sofer's son-in-law, radiated his gadlus to
all of the talmidim, who never forgot him. In
Hungarian yeshivas, the rosh yeshiva was never off traveling
far and wide to collect money for the yeshiva, since the
kehilloh was expected to support the yeshiva.

In Hungary, the rosh yeshiva and the rov of the
kehilloh were generally one and the same. When a rov
was asked to head a kehilloh, negotiations were
conducted for the setup and maintenance of a yeshiva
revolving around the question of how many talmidim the
community would support to study there. A rosh yeshiva who
sought to extend the bounds of Torah and bring in as many
local talmidim as possible would ask the residents to
support a large yeshiva.

"The yeshivas known as `Hungarian yeshivas,'" writes HaRav
Nosson Neugershal in his notebooks, "are also the yeshivas in
Slovakia, Transylvania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and part of
Austria (Burgenland). These yeshivas had many fundamental
aspects in common, and all of them had a single father: the
father of the Hungarian yeshivas, the Chasam Sofer. This
great, fabulous gaon olom was the founder of Hungarian
orthodoxy, its teacher and guide. Thanks to the work of this
man of great deeds, chareidi Judaism in Hungary was
preserved, comprising by far the largest segment of Judaism
there."

Saying Sholom to the Rebbe

Many families sent their sons to the Hungarian yeshivas,
including Jews leading a very meager existence who waited
eagerly for the day when they would be able to send their
sons to achieve greatness in Torah. There was also a minority
of Jews who, although they managed to make a comfortable
living, felt it was enough to send their sons to study Torah
without having to pay for their support. Nevertheless they
were sent to yeshivas instead of gymnasium or university.

"It seems to me," writes HaRav Neugershal, "in Hungary there
are more [such families] than in other Diaspora countries.
For these Jews the primary concern and aim is not just to
support their own household but also to be able to support
their sons studying in faraway yeshivas. They do not worry
about the cost of the long journey and board, as long as
their sons are learning in what they see as the best yeshiva.
They have total faith in Chazal's axiom that a person's
livelihood is determined from Rosh Hashanah until the next
Rosh Hashanah except for money spent on Shabbos, Yom Tov and
their sons' learning. If one spends more, one receives more.
With great devotion and total satisfaction, the father goes
to the post office every month with a bundle of money in his
hand thinking, `This is the "reward of my labor." I am
sending this money, earned through sweat and blood, to my son
away learning--not medicine or law, but Toras Moshe!'

"It is hard to say whether the yeshivas adjusted to suit the
various material conditions of the talmidim or whether
the talmidim adjusted themselves to the material
conditions . . . Thus it came about that Yeshivas Shuran was
not suited for the sons of beggars or the sons of misers. The
vast majority belonged to the type of families and people who
readily sent their sons to study Torah and to rise up in
ruchniyus and even supported them.

"Yeshivas Shuran was founded in 5609 (1849) by HaRav Feivel
Plaut, author of Likutei Chover ben Chaim. He was a
talmid of the Chasam Sofer, zy"o. When HaRav
Frei was appointed moro de'asra he also agreed to head
the yeshiva," writes HaRav Neugershal. He then proceeds to
pen a fascinating description of the way of life, starting
with the journey to get there.

"A few days before the start of the zman, a sense of
bustling activity could be felt in the entire town, from the
train station authorities to the wagon driver waiting outside
the station. Yeshivas Shuran was known by the authorities as
the Rabbinat Hochshule or the Talmudishe
Hochshule (School for Advanced Talmudic Studies), which
made us eligible for a 50 percent discount on train fare.
This was no light matter. My journey, for example, instead of
80 grush, cost just half that, and I was not among the
farthest away . . .

"The wagon drivers could already tell which bochurim
were greenhorns and they would take their luggage straight to
the yeshiva building, i.e. the main beis medrash.
After the train ride, the first destination [of new
bochurim] was the Rebbe's house. At this point, I must
note that in Hungarian yeshivas the yeshiva director [i.e.
the rosh yeshiva] is called `rebbe,' and nothing else. Nobody
dared to utter his first name, not in his presence and not
out of his presence. If they hadn't called him up to the
Torah every Shabbos I wouldn't know his first name to this
day.

"In a cramped but very well-lit hall one waits in line for a
bit until a gabbai brings you into the Rebbe's inner
chamber. He greets you by saying `Sholom' and you kiss
his hand and he does not refuse. The Rov, whose every
external feature speaks of dignity--because of the
countenance on his handsome face and because of his clean,
pressed attire--asks you questions like, `Where are you
from?' `How old are you?' `Where did you learn until now?'
and based on the answer to this question sometimes other
questions arise such as, `Why did you stop learning there and
come here?' which can be an unpleasant question at times.
Then you depart, stepping out of the Rov's chamber with total
gratification. You have now taken care of the day's most
important matter of business, for through this visit, in
effect, you have been accepted to the yeshiva."

He also recalls there were three types of students at every
yeshiva: First, the "chozer bochur," prominent
bochurim who not only had the ability to learn but to
teach as well. They would take one or two talmidim who
needed help and guidance in gemora. The second type
was the "bochur'l," who would pay the prominent
bochurim to learn with them. The in-between type was
called "shiur geiher," who studied for the
shiur alone, without any help.

"At Yeshivas Shuran the Rosh Yeshiva's son was known as Rav
Dalmash (after the small kehilloh in Slovakia where he
lived until being appointed a dayan and moreh
between bochurim, particularly between the
bochur'l and the chozer bochur.

"The bochurim of Shuran had to find themselves a place
to live, which was not hard, within whichever price range the
bochur could afford. Interestingly, at the edge of the
town was a neighborhood of goyim where there wasn't a
single house without a room rented out to a yeshiva
bochur. About a third of the yeshiva lived there."

The Manza Committee was composed of veteran bochurim
who served as gabboim. They were in charge of the
money collected from the parents of every bochur
staying at the yeshiva. The Manza provided the material
sustenance and its gabboim took care of the food
supplies and paying the bill at the market, the bakery, the
butcher shop, etc. There were other committees as well.

HaRav Neugershal says that the daily schedule began at 4:30
am, just like at all Hungarian yeshivas. "At wakeup time,
three taps were heard on the window of your room. The
awakener coming to awaken. He was so experienced that he knew
the inner workings of the boys in his zone. (There were only
three wakers in total, who divided the town into three
zones.) And of course there were assiduous talmidim
who greeted the awakeners with the sound of their own Torah
learning. He who has never known the taste of Torah learning
two hours before tefillas hashachar has not known the
sweet taste of learning. Your brain is a sort of tabula
rasa that can absorb anything, no matter how difficult
the sugya.

"The tefilloh at the yeshiva is truly avodoh
shebeleiv. At our yeshiva we prayed in Nusach
Ashkenaz. The shaliach tzibbur would wait until
the Rov had finished each and every segment. Nobody spoke
during the tefilloh, not before Borechu and not
after. After the tefilloh, five chapters of
Tehillim were recited, followed by Yehi Rotzon
and Sholosh Esrei Middos with tremendous fervor.
While the tefillin were being taken off and put away
the bochurim would say the final parts of the
tefilloh, each according to his own practice. Then the
Rov would leave the beis medrash, approaching a few of
the bochurim along the way to affectionately ask about
their spiritual state. `Tell me, my son, when did you get up
this morning? Do you find the weekly shiur difficult?
Have you gone through parshas hashovua with Rashi? Do
you ever study mussar seforim?'"

HaRav Neugershal then describes the learning schedule in
their rooms where most of the bochurim prepared for
the shiur the Rov would give at noontime. "Walking the
streets and alleys of Shuran during these hours you could
feel you were in the vicinity of a yeshiva. The sound of
Torah streaming forth from the low houses with their roofs of
straw and clay or brick, melded with the atmosphere you
breathed in . . . "

Taking Meals

Hungary's largest yeshiva was Yeshivas Pressburg in
Bratislava. Unfortunately, we did not receive descriptions
from Holocaust survivors but according to Mrs. Bronstein,
"Yeshivas Pressburg transformed into a symbol of nobility,
integrity, observing mitzvas and most of all, uncompromising
hasmodoh in Torah learning."

At Yeshivas Serdhelei, the yeshiva headed by HaRav Anshel
Katz, Hy"d, were heart-stopping niggunim that
captivated the hearts of all who heard them. "They say even
the sheigetzim of the town would gather Friday nights
under the windows of the yeshiva, humming and whistling the
niggunim with deveikus."

This was because the nobility and refinement of the
bochurim, who were engaged in Torah study all week
long, was ingrained in their being and the song bursting
forth from their pure hearts would speak even to the heart of
the goy.

In Munkacz, Mrs. Beinhorn's hometown, the bochurim
would eat teg (also called kest)--a few days at
the home of established, distinguished baalei batim.
At the Klein home, her parents would host several
bochurim for teg during the week and sometimes
two bochurim would even arrive together. "In the
winter of 5745 [1985]," recounts Mrs. Beinhorn based on an
account appearing in her book, Alim She'alu Min
Ha'afar, "a gracious Jew in rabbinical attire told me,
`Over fifty years ago I ate teg by you. No, you
wouldn't remember me. You were too little. But I will never
forget your parents' special hachnosas orchim.' The
man continued to speak appreciatively about my father's home,
which was later destroyed."

This was not the only home to be destroyed. Thousands of
homes were devastated and the Jews who filled them with
Jewish vitality never returned. We could carry on writing
about them, for every Jew has a story to tell, but instead we
will wait until the footsteps of the Redeemer are heard and
then all of these innocent Jews who rose up to Heaven in a
storm will be able to tell their stories themselves, for then
they will be far more powerful.